Frustrated with Charging the HTC One in the Car

[bbinder]

Also, my Google maps used to dim but they don't anymore. Not sure when it stopped and likely an app update pulled it. Maybe some offline maps would help me from time to time as well for navigation...
https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/3273567?hl=en&ref_topic=3273087

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[AdamsHouseCat]

It is also possible that you have a bad USB cable. I have a 2 amp charger, and was experiencing a net drain. I checked the power settings and discovered I was only getting a USB level charge! I tried swapping out the USB cable, and my charge was now showing as AC, and the net drain issue was solved.

 

[freakshow999]

Solid green charging light? I only get solid green when it's charged and solid red when it's charging. I did have the blinking red light once before with GPS and Google navigation going. That was when I was on an incompatible charger and it got really hot.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[Aquila]

As indicated, many car chargers limit are read by the device as a USB charger and are limited to 500mA draw. It seems like you looked at this in the device on chargers that are reading AC, but AC alone doesn't mean it's recognizing it as a fast-charge device. It's not uncommon for high 3G/4G usage, GPS and the screen being on to drain at a faster rate than 500 will charge it. Assuming that you have a charger that does fast charge your phone, one way to alleviate the charging speed is to use a power inverter (to AC) and plug your normal charger into that. It might not get the full charge because of output limitations on the socket but it'll be a lot closer.

 

[FaisDogg]

You need a new good quality car charger, crappy old chargers can't handle these new phones.
My car charger (2 years old) charges my phone while on NAV, my charge goes up when I use it plugged in

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[bbinder]

Solid green charging light? I only get solid green when it's charged and solid red when it's charging. I did have the blinking red light once before with GPS and Google navigation going. That was when I was on an incompatible charger and it got really hot.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

Whoops, my mistake. Yes, solid red when it started charging again and not solid green. You're completely right. I write it wrong, thanks.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[TJGEsq]

Well, I've now read in multiple places that the HTC One does not support rapid charging (CLICK HERE).

I also downloaded an app called Battery Monitor Widget, which confirms as much. This app shows the net mA gain or loss at any given time. For example, when plugged into the AC adapter that came with the phone, it shows a positive 879mA. Since that adapter should charge at 1000mA, I assume the missing 121mA is due to the OS, the screen, and any running apps. I got the same results with a 2100mA wall charger (made by Rocketfish). When in the car, I noticed that the 3100mA charger (made by Rocketfish) never got any better results. My other car charger is 1000mA (made by Just Wireless, and is specifically designed for HTC phones), and again, got the same results. If I turned on navigation and music, the net gain was generally around just 100mA, so that's why charging takes so long in the car (again, recall that both my car chargers can charge in AC mode). I have not had the opportunity to drive for hours again with the navigation running, so the overheating issue is still up in the air, but I suspect the overheating caused the charging to stop, and that in turn caused my phone to have a net loss. In my shorter 30 minute drives today, the phone did not overheat and had a very slow net gain of about 1%.

From what I can tell, the bottom line is that the best you're going to ever get is 1000mA (i.e., 1 amp). HTC One owners get no benefit from a 2.1 amp or 3.1 amp charger. Because of that, and the fact that navigation takes so much battery power (particularly if it's downloading map data over a cellular network), the HTC One simply cannot charge at acceptable rates when navigating over long distances in the car.

Hopefully I can prevent overheating by directing a vent on the phone while driving. I don't know what I'll do in the winter, however, when I won't have my AC running.

 

[TJGEsq]

You need a new good quality car charger, crappy old chargers can't handle these new phones.
My car charger (2 years old) charges my phone while on NAV, my charge goes up when I use it plugged in

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

As far as I know, I used good quality chargers. They certainly weren't cheap, nor were they old (they were brand spankin' new).

I'd appreciate you doing me a favor: Download an app called Battery Monitor Widget (CLICK HERE). Put the widget on your home screen and see what your net mA gain/loss is when using Google Maps to navigate around town. Please let me know the results. Also, when you noticed that your charge went up, can you tell me how long you had been using navigation, and how much it went up? For example, were you using navigation for just 30 minutes or 3 hours? Did your charge go up by just 1% or 30%?

Thanks.

 

[br3ndo702]

Make sure your car charger is charging in (AC) mode and not in (USB) mode. You can view this in battery in settings. USB mode charges about 1/4 the speed as AC. Some after market chargers will only charge the HTC One in USB mode and I hate it.

Sent from my HTC ONE.

 

[robsawalker]

Well, I use nav and google play music on my phone in the car, plugged in to an official HTC cradle, and the charger does not charge the phone when nav etc is on, it just stays at whatever level it was at. turning everything off and it s-l-o-w-l-y charges. It is rubbish, my Galaxy and iPhone both happily charged to max whatever you were running. One wonder whether this is all related to the fast-charge feature being turned off on the HTC Ones battery....

 

[TJGEsq]

One wonder whether this is all related to the fast-charge feature being turned off on the HTC Ones battery....

I absolutely believe that to be the issue.

And from what I've read, it's not possible to rectify since it's a hardware issue rather than a software issue. What a bummer. I just don't understand why HTC would purposely cripple the phone in that way.

 

[Jnorton2724]

I had this problem with a USB charger. So went to AT&T and got an AC car charger and now I no longer have that problem while using navigation. The phone still gets pretty warm but it does charge.

Sent from my HTC One

 

[HawaiiD]

Well, I've now read in multiple places that the HTC One does not support rapid charging (CLICK HERE).

I also downloaded an app called Battery Monitor Widget, which confirms as much. This app shows the net mA gain or loss at any given time. For example, when plugged into the AC adapter that came with the phone, it shows a positive 879mA. Since that adapter should charge at 1000mA, I assume the missing 121mA is due to the OS, the screen, and any running apps. I got the same results with a 2100mA wall charger (made by Rocketfish). When in the car, I noticed that the 3100mA charger (made by Rocketfish) never got any better results. My other car charger is 1000mA (made by Just Wireless, and is specifically designed for HTC phones), and again, got the same results. If I turned on navigation and music, the net gain was generally around just 100mA, so that's why charging takes so long in the car (again, recall that both my car chargers can charge in AC mode). I have not had the opportunity to drive for hours again with the navigation running, so the overheating issue is still up in the air, but I suspect the overheating caused the charging to stop, and that in turn caused my phone to have a net loss. In my shorter 30 minute drives today, the phone did not overheat and had a very slow net gain of about 1%.

From what I can tell, the bottom line is that the best you're going to ever get is 1000mA (i.e., 1 amp). HTC One owners get no benefit from a 2.1 amp or 3.1 amp charger. Because of that, and the fact that navigation takes so much battery power (particularly if it's downloading map data over a cellular network), the HTC One simply cannot charge at acceptable rates when navigating over long distances in the car.

Hopefully I can prevent overheating by directing a vent on the phone while driving. I don't know what I'll do in the winter, however, when I won't have my AC running.

Along with a higher amp car charger you need to buy micro usb "charge only" cables.
Not the sync type oem cables.

These cables will make your htc one think it is on a wall charger.

I use it all the time for rapid charging while driving my car.

Also put your htc one in power save
Mode. It will charge a lot faster too.

Sent from my Coconut Wireless HTC One

 

[Davethebrewer]

Along with a higher amp car charger you need to buy micro usb "charge only" cables.
Not the sync type oem cables.

These cables will make your htc one think it is on a wall charger.

I use it all the time for rapid charging while driving my car.

Also put your htc one in power save
Mode. It will charge a lot faster too.

You don't really need those cables. Note that tjgartner had the same charging rate on the factory supplied AC wall charger ~ 800 mA as on the car charger. I have observed the same thing with my measurements with Battery Monitor Widget using the HTC cable or other regular micro USB cables. With the HTC One you will never get more than around 900 mA of charge current no matter what charger. Power Save helps some to speed up charging while running, but I find I cannot see the screen in the car on a sunny day with it on so I have mostly given up on that setting.

 

[HawaiiD]

You don't really need those cables. Note that tjgartner had the same charging rate on the factory supplied AC wall charger ~ 800 mA as on the car charger. I have observed the same thing with my measurements with Battery Monitor Widget using the HTC cable or other regular micro USB cables. With the HTC One you will never get more than around 900 mA of charge current no matter what charger. Power Save helps some to speed up charging while running, but I find I cannot see the screen in the car on a sunny day with it on so I have mostly given up on that setting.

Don't know what the charge rate is on my one?
However,
Am just speaking from experience.
I used the oem cables with a
Anker 4.2 dual micro usb charger. And it was slow hardly charges at all with waze app.

Then I bought charge only cables from Amazon and I must say from +-30%-99% in 50 minutes while driving in traffic. That last 1% however takes another 10 minutes.

Here is the cables I bought.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU3055688
Sent from my Coconut Wireless HTC One

 

[XontheP]

I'm having the same issue as TJ, have also tried many different chargers, am also familiar with the charging rates for this phone, and the USB/AC thing. My charging will not keep up when running nav. I can slow the drain by turning on Power Save, and disabling everything I can. But it still loses ground. I can see how heat could significantly slow charging, even stop it. I'm wondering if my Otterbox case is preventing heat dissipation, and causing my charging problems. TJ - are you using a case? Those that are not having charge problems when navigating, are you using cases?

 

[TJGEsq]

Yes, I'm using a Platinum Series slider case bought from Best Buy.

As an aside, today my phone overheated after just 5 minutes. I got in the car, plugged in the phone, turned on navigation and music, and 5 minutes later it was overheating and had stopped charging.

I'll probably be looking for a new phone soon. Maybe the Moto X or the new Nexus (any guess as to when it comes out?). I can't take the HTC One's battery/charging issues.

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[nookiewacookie1]

I keep reading about the battery woes all over the internet. What I notice is that my phone enters the car with the same % as it leaves... the consumption is at the same rate of charge. I will try the widget to see what charge I am actually getting in the car, but I do not use a case.

I would like to know, has anyone used a USB from Monoprice? Can someone let me know if there is proof to the whole short pins or differences with the USB cables?

I have the nexus 7 as well, and I rarely bring both chargers.

 

[nookiewacookie1]

What are your options? Are not not locked in? I'd love to get the Moto X but i'm under contract.

Yes, I'm using a Platinum Series slider case bought from Best Buy.

As an aside, today my phone overheated after just 5 minutes. I got in the car, plugged in the phone, turned on navigation and music, and 5 minutes later it was overheating and had stopped charging.

I'll probably be looking for a new phone soon. Maybe the Moto X or the new Nexus (any guess as to when it comes out?). I can't take the HTC One's battery/charging issues.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[TJGEsq]

What are your options? Are not not locked in? I'd love to get the Moto X but i'm under contract.

Not sure what you're asking here. Can you clarify?

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